Boris Johnson committed “repeated contempts” of Parliament with his partygate denials that merited a 90-day suspension, a cross-party investigation has found.
The Privileges Committee’s recommended suspension for acts, including deliberately misleading MPs, would have paved the way for a by-election for the former prime minister if he had not resigned in anticipation. Mr Johnson hit out at what he called a “deranged conclusion”, accusing the Tory-majority group of MPs he has repeatedly sought to disparage of lying.
He called the committee led by Labour veteran Harriet Harman “beneath contempt” and claimed its 14-month investigation had delivered “what is intended to be the final knife-thrust in a protracted political assassination”. The MPs recommended that Mr Johnson should not be given a former member’s pass, which would grant him access to the parliamentary estate.
